This invention relates to supplementation of the diets of domesticated animals (livestock and poultry) with iodine in an enhanced bioavailable manner, that is to say the iodine is more available to the animal than when using conventional sources of iodine, such as calcium iodate. The supplementary compound are alpha amino acid metal iodide complexes.
It is well known that domesticated animals (livestock and poultry) are in need of bioavailable metal or mineral supplements, essential amino acids, and also are in need of iodine for healthy animal nutrition.
Iodine is a key component of hormones produced by the thyroid gland. The thyroid is responsible for growth, brain development and the rate at which animals burn energy. Two of the most common sources of iodine used in animal nutrition and therefore used in supplementing animal diets are calcium iodate (CaIO3) and ethylenediamine dihydoiodide (EDDI). One test of the efficiency of effective metabolization of the iodine source by an animal is measuring blood serum levels of iodine after ingesting of the nutrient material.
In the animal feed industry it is known that insufficient availability of iodine to the animal can result in conditions such as goiters, reproductive failure, weak offspring, reduced milk yield, mastitis, abnormal respiration, reduced growth rate and even hairless offspring. The traditional toxicity symptoms of iodine in animals are anorexia, excess salivation, nasal or ocular discharge, abortion, pneumonia, and bone/tendon deformities. Furthermore, excessive feeding of ethylenediamine dihydoiodide (EDDI) is known to interfere with Vitamin A metabolism. High dietary calcium nitrate, thiocyanate, glucosinolate, perchlorate, rubidium and cobalt interfere with iodine metabolism and can increase iodine requirements. Metal iron for nutrient use does reduce iodine toxicity, but can also increase the need for iodine requirements.
It can be seen therefore that the conventional now used iodine sources in animal feed, such as inorganic iodine salts or amine salts all have their unique problems. There is therefore a continuing need for the development of unique iodine sources that provide better availability to the animal, that is, higher blood serum levels without simply adding more iodine. The primary objective of the present invention is to meet this need by providing organic trace mineral metal complexes of iodine, particularly with amino acid metal complexes, and most particularly with naturally occurring amino acids and/or essential amino acid metal complexes.
Lysine is an essential amino acid in the diet of mammals. That is, lysine cannot be synthesized by mammals at a rate adequate to meet the metabolic requirements, and so it must be supplied in the diet. Corn is notoriously low in lysine, and if used for animals in a single grain ration requires lysine supplementation both to maintain animal health and to achieve economic animal growth. Protected lysine molecules are a subject of commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,704,521 and 7,846,471. As explained below, preferred compounds of the present invention providing enhanced bioavailability of iodine by providing two iodine ions per molecule and are those made from lysine reacted with a compound such as zinc to make lysine zinc diiodide (structure I, below).
The method of achieving the above primary objective as well as others will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention. It is understood that the invention is not limited by its primary objective and that other advantages of the invention such as efficiency of synthesis, lower cost of iodine, blood serum level iodine enhancement, i.e., bioavailability, and cost effectiveness of nutritional supplementation are all also achieved.